what type of led is used in police car lights?

LEDBE
W

webley445

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Nov 16, 2001
Messages
1,353
Location
St. Pete, Fl.
Does anyone know what type od leds are used in the lightbars that I see on top of patrol cars?
They are very noticeable and really stand out. I wonder if you could get the same effect out of 5 or 10mm leds or if they are something different that the manufacturers use.
 
Re: what type of led is used in police car LED lights?

I have always wondered the same. I suspect clusters of 5 or 10mm lights.
 
Not sure. I asked about what kind of LEDs were in 18 wheeler cabs and trailers as brake lights and tail lights, but never got a decisive answer. I think the ones that have about 20 to 30 lights are probably just bright 5, 8 or 10mm LEDs, but the ones that only have six LEDs are very bright and can be seen from a LONG way away.
 
I work on a Rapid Response Paramedic car in the UK. The lighbar on my vehicle is manufactured by Whelen Engineering. It has 48 front facing LEDs and another 48 rear facing LEDs.

I've looked on Whelen's website, it doesn't mention the actual LED type (they look like 5mm to me) but do mention TIR lenses, which are clearly visable when you look at the lightbar.

The lights are extremely bright, they bounce back off the road signs for hundreds of yards on a straight road.

The lights are so bright we have been asked/told by the police to modify them, as when following, the police are so dazzled by the light they cannot see where they are going!

I've also been parked up at an RTA and caused another accident because the motorist was "blinded by the light"

I personally think they are great :naughty:

Terry
 
I've seen some of them up-close at a show and they looked like arrays of Luxeon emitters. Those things can really punch through visual clutter, even in broad daylight.
 
We have some low-profile light bars on our latest traffic cars which are definately Luxeons, each with individual optics.


Tim.
 
PhotonWrangler said:
I've seen some of them up-close at a show and they looked like arrays of Luxeon emitters. Those things can really punch through visual clutter, even in broad daylight.
Click to expand...

You could well be right, although the aperture of the lens looks suited to a 5mm LED, I expect a Luxeon would be a very similar size. It's difficult to see through the lens and make out the actual LED die.
 
I am a volunteer firefighter and had(joined the Marine Corps and let a friend "borrow" it) a LED blue light and most of our fire apparatus have LED lights on them and I cant figure out if they are luxeons or not, I know we have some that are just arrayes of 5mm but my light has 6 super bright LEDs no way are they normal 5mm or 10mm, I have asked many dealers and none knew. I have wondered if they are some type of special LED designed just for being pulsed very brightly.
 
the older ones were arrays of 5mm's, the newer ones appear to be lux's, but there seems to be lack of proper heat sinking,

upon talking with a respected member here, his guess was that they might be snap-led's

I think that whelen has a pretty proprietary relfector/optic design, so they are pretty careful about protecting it.
 
That would make sense, the luxeons I mean. That would explain the pricing I've seen on the LED units, even the removeable dash mount units with cigar plug. Lux would also explain visibility in daylight.
Now is heatsinking neccessary due to the momentary on/off - flashing involved? Its not a constant on light source like a torch.
 
I wonder, since heat is the primary issue, and heat builds with time, if they designed the output with duty cycle in mind. Meaning- if they are only pulsed in the ON position for a fraction of every second, then they could potentially be driven at least 2-4+ times as hard during the ON phase of the duty cycle without really harming the LEDs. I'm willing to bet that if you had a LuxI on a 15% duty cycle, you could probably run it at around 2 amps without any issues. I wonder if that's where a lot of the oomf is coming from.
 
I think a number of them have the Pirahna type LEDs. The truck lights that only have six or seven bulbs but are stiil very bright use them. I have one in orange/red that someone built into a MMag that's pretty intense even if the color makes it useless.


 
Last edited:
From a past life....

Most of the lightbars would use Luxeons, though I have to imagine they have some competition these days.

Some light bars use the 4-pin Superflux or Piranha LEDS.

The tail lights with 6 LEDS I believe are Snap-Leds, thought maybe some 150mA SMT LEDS now.

Not in that market anymore so may be out of date.

semiman
 
At work today there were alot of fire dept. vehicles due to a conference they were attending. Mainly suv's. most were using led lights.
Got to look at some close up, and they were all using some type of optics. the Whelen lights used what appeared to be a magnifying tube. Looks like those long, half rounded magnifying glasses I've seen used for enlarging print when reading a book.
The others had plastic lenses similar to reflectors that had apparently magnifying optics in the portions that centered over the led.

I also saw a 18 led strobe kit on ebay and wondered what you all had to say about it

http://www.mpglighting.com/ledmodules.html
 
Managed to get a peep inside the Whelen lightbar on my car and they are Luxeon 'type' emitters each with their own proprietary TIR lens.

With nearly a 100 emitters it's no wonder the whole road is lit up!

Terry
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

T
What is a good replacement for Olight Baton S15R?
Replies
1
Views
401
Hooked on Fenix
H
sparkyv
What is the purpose of UV flashlights?
4 5 6
Replies
110
Views
11K
jacobd
jacobd
S
Amber LED options in flashlights in 2024?
2
Replies
27
Views
2K
jon_slider
J
scottk2112
Police Security brand
2
Replies
20
Views
2K
Monocrom
Monocrom
scottk2112
What is this expensive monster!!
Replies
6
Views
1K
DaveTheDude
D

Latest posts

Top